The Paysend money transfer system, which announced its withdrawal from Russia, actually continued to work in the country, taking advantage of a serious decrease in competition, as reported by Kommersant.
Paysend officially announced that it was leaving the country back in March, almost simultaneously with Western Union, Visa and Mastercard: “When we founded Paysend, the mission was to bring people together and bring family and friends closer, even if they may be physically separated around the world. Due to the current circumstances, we have decided to immediately suspend all transfers to the Russian Federation.”
The company, headquartered in London, allows you to transfer funds from card to card, to Alipay e-wallets, by phone number.
We were the first in the industry to offer a solution for international card-to-card transfers, thereby allowing you to send money between 12 billion cards worldwide – Mastercard, Visa, China UnionPay and cards of local payment systems. Paysend currently serves over 4 million customers and 17,000 SMEs and operates in more than 60 countries worldwide with more than 110 recipient countries.
However, Paysend, despite its statements, continues to work in Russia. According to the Russian-language site, 49 countries are available for sending funds, and 90 for receiving. In Russia, Paysend operates through the NPO Payments and Settlements, which has a valid license from the Central Bank. The NPO and Paysend itself did not answer journalists’ questions about the system’s activities in Russia.
Paysend has become one of the biggest players in remittances to China, especially as Sberbank pulled out of the market, creating “huge growth opportunities,” the source wrote.